NSW Police offer $1m reward, open new inquiry into 40-year cold case terror attack

A new inquiry into the 1982 bombings of the Israeli Consulate and Hakoah Club in Sydney has launched with at least one suspect thought to still be at large.

Police believe these suspects can assist with inquiries into the 1982 bombings. Picture: NSW Police

A pro-Palestinian terrorist group believed to be behind the bombing of Sydney’s Hakoah Club and the Israeli consulate in December 1982 relied on loyal operatives in Australia to assemble, plant and detonate the bombs, a coronial inquiry has heard.

the Israeli consulate after the bomb blast in December 1982.

Rubble on the seventh floor of the building. Picture: Steve Brennan

Almost four decades after the co-ordinated attacks sent tremors through Australia’s Jewish community, the senior detective responsible for the ongoing counter-tourism investigation into the attacks said she was confident the terrorist group, known as 15 May, planned and directed the attacks from Lebanon.

The first bomb explosion on December 23 occurred outside the Israeli consulate-general office in William St, leaving two people seriously injured.

A second bomb exploded some five hours later in a car parked beneath the crowded Hakoah Club, a popular Jewish social venue in Bondi.

At the time, detectives said the Hakoah Club explosion was designed to collapse the building and kill the people inside, but the device failed to detonate correctly and no one died.

But investigations into the bombings were revived on Monday by NSW police and the state government, following the announcement of a $1m reward that coincided with the first day of a coronial inquiry into the attacks.

The Hakoah crime scene following the December 23, 1982 bombing in Sydney.

Detective Chief Inspector Caroline O’Hare, who led the 2011-12 counter-terrorism taskforce that probed the cold case, said she was confident 15 May terrorist leader, Hussayn al-Umari, was the architect of the attacks because of intelligence she received from a high-level source who previously served within the organisation.

“There is a source I have spoken to from the 15 May Arab organisation who told me he (al-Umari) constructed the device and directed the bombing of the Israeli consulate,” Ms O’Hare told the inquiry.

“He further told me that this matter was published first in Lebanon, but I've not been able to locate any evidence of that. And he also told me that the motive was hatred for Israel.”

In 2012, shortly after authorities launched the new counter-terrorism taskforce into the case, Ms O’Hare said a contingent of Australian detectives met with FBI bomb technicians in the US, who confirmed the bombs detonated in the 1982 attacks shared the same features with previous 15 May terror plots.

She also confirmed detectives travelled to Israel to speak to witnesses who were inside the consulate when the first bomb was detonated.

The car used to house a bomb in the carpark of the Hakoah Club

While the explosives were made offshore, the senior counter-terrorism expert said one of the bombs was partly assembled by supporters of 15 May who carried out the co-ordinated attacks in Sydney, with one of the suspects seen in front of the consulate at the time of the explosion.

The inquiry also heard the 2011-12 investigation was “significantly” hampered because the original police brief was destroyed in the decades after the bombings.

Ms O’Hare said the files were destroyed after a former detective, involved in the 1982-83 investigation, borrowed them with the intention of writing a book. But they were mistakenly destroyed by his family after he died.

On Monday, police released a facial composite of three suspects linked to the car used in the Hakoah Club bombing, based on several witness descriptions.

Acting Commissioner Mark Walton said he was confident at least one suspect linked to the attacks could still be residing in Sydney and be part of a “sleeper cell”.

“The particular group (involved) is something that we hope the current coroner will be able to provide some clarity on,” he said.

“The events that happened here in Sydney certainly have connections with similar events that happened around the world in targeting Israeli interests.”

Deputy Premier Paul Toole said he hoped the $1m reward would be the “final push” the public required to offer further information that could lead to a prosecution.

“These two horrific targeted attacks were international acts of terrorism and, despite extensive damage caused to the Israeli consulate and the Hakoah Club, we are extremely fortunate that no one was killed,” Mr Toole said.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Darren Bark said on Monday “the entire community”, not just the Jewish community, “was seeking closure”.

“The individuals that were affected … even though 40 years might have passed, the pain is just as current as it was on the day that it took place,” he said.

“I think that ultimately people getting closure of what took place is a small comfort. It was a miracle that nobody was killed.

“It’s really important that we get the truth that those individuals deserve.”